Front end strip down.
Sept 09 - The front end strip down has started.
The inner and outer wings (fenders) have, so far, never been removed until now.
Aims,
To improve further the front suspension.
Re-fit the radiator correctly. It had not been fitted correctly by the previous owner / 1998 build.
Improve appearance of top of radiator with some mods and paint it.
Correctly fit rubber radiator mounts. (They were missing!)
Remove old (poorly made) engine mounts and manufacturer new stronger mounts.
Left side - re-route the air con pipes so make a cleaner inner wing.
Right side - re-route wiring to make a cleaner inner wing.
Repair and paint inner wings - Repair all areas where the "butchers" have cut them to fit the suspension.
Firewall - re-route air con pipes and electrics to make a cleaner firewall.
Attend to all areas that need to be rebuilt properly and reduce rattles.
All parts to be re-fitted through Evo mastic and with stainless steel bolts.
Deadline - mid November for the British Classic Car Show at the NEC Birmingham UK.
Untidy firewall. Holes and wiring.
Engine and transmission removed. Sept 09.
The outer and inner wings (fenders) were removed, the bumper, front grill and radiator and the air conditioning
pipes. The lower and upper suspension arms were also removed ready for the new arms to be fitted.
Improving the engine mounts. Oct 09
Notice the poor quality welds, the thin materials and from the right hand picture
Left hand mount below. Notice from the removed upright how much of the weld did not penetrate.
Below are the improved engine mounts.
Also compare above and below, the mounts are moved backwards a about 12mm.
This will provide a little more clearance between engine and radiator.
Untidy Wiring.
"Podding". Moving back the pedals to provide more leg room.
A great deal of effort was put into keeping the steering column as compact as possible
and using a steering wheel with a very shallow dish to provide more arm room and increase
the distance from the seat to the steering wheel.
Here we are providing and extra 50mm (2-inches) of leg room. This effectively extends the cab
for the driver. These trucks have a short cab and this will lead to a more comfortable
driving position. It will also be necessary to modify the left hand inner wing (fender).
to fit in with the "podding". Actually when the pedals are moved forwards it may be possible
to achieve an extra 3-inches but the left foot rest position will be 2-inches further back.
The British Classic Car Show. Nov 09. NEC.
Well ... we made it... firewall finished, podding finished, engine back in, temporarily put the old
suspension back on, set up the suspension and towed it using an A-Frame.
My GMC Yukon Denali XL was used to tow the truck the 205 miles to the National
Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham England.
The photographs were taken on the Thursday set-up day as we knew that on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
the truck would be always surrounded by people. This was an understatement!
Repairing the inner wings. (Fenders)
After the NEC show we were into December and Christmas and so work started again in January.
The inner wings needed restoring and altering to suit the new suspension that was to be fitted.
The original Mustang 2 suspension had been fitted by the previous owner and it can be seen in
the pictures below that little care (understatement) had been taken in cutting out the inner
wings around the top suspension arm. The new tubular suspension arms would be even more compact
and so very time consuming fabrication work was need to both repair and remodel the inner wings.
There were also many holes left in these wings, Some GM and some from past projects. They were
all filled with new metal. The strength of the inner wing was re-instated by folding the new metal
along the bottom edge, following the shape of the suspension turret joining up to the original
GM folds. A small gap was left between the inner wing and the chassis as these structures
are not meant to be connected. It is planned to add a rubber skirt along the bottom of the
inner wing to stop any splash water from getting through from the wheels to the engine bay.
